Last Friday a group of Haverford and Bryn Mawr students went to the El Viaje de los Niños opening reception at Magic Gardens and enjoyed a delicious dinner (and dessert!) at Reading Terminal. El Viaje de los Niños (The Children’s Journey) tells the stories of Mexican immigrant children who have crossed the border to come to Philadelphia. Through visual art sessions with artist Nora H. Litz, the children created large-scale dioramas that illustrate their journeys and the distress that migration has created in their lives and identities. Narrating their stories in accompanying audio tracks, the children take us along with them on their pilgrimage. Small paintings and poems by immigrant adults augment the children’s stories to fully reveal their emotional journeys. El Viaje de los Niños is in collaboration with Puentes de Salud, and with assistance from Dr. Steven Larson, University of Pennsylvania.

The group of Haverford and Bryn Mawr students is interested in migration issues and recently participated in the 2013 Migration Field Study (MFS) in Arizona and Mexico City. As I learned, this year was the first time MFS participants visited Arizona and spoke to Border Patrol officials. Then they traveled to Mexico City where they stayed at the Casa de los Amigos, and were exposed to the nuances of migration through briefings by non-profit organizations and daily seminar-type discussions. I had the pleasure of participating in the pilot Migration Field Study in 2010, so the group and I were able to compare experiences. If you’d like any information on the MFS, Puentes de Salud, or the exhibit, please let me know! The exhibit will be open through February 24, 2013.

Saludos!

The group enjoyed dinner at Reading Terminal.

Our group in front of snowy Magic Gardens :)

The group talks to director of Puentes de Salud, Dr. Steve Larson.

El viaje de los niños.

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on Thursday, January 31st, 2013 at 1:09 pm by Bea Sanchez '12 and is filed under What's New.
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